The inspiration for Stereo Stereo is my love of music and the retail experience.
I can remember every detail about seeing The Beatles on Ed Sullivan. That event changed my life. Just one listen of an undeniable piece of music can bring one to transcend everyday life into, almost euphoria, where nothing else matters. No other art form can deliver that.
Many people have said retail is dead, an old business model. I love the retail experience when it is performed properly. To me, it's all about engagement and an interest in helping, acknowledging, and listening to potential clients. Having executional excellence to patiently demonstrate and explain my products and services. Retail gives me the opportunity that no other model can recreate; to actively demonstrate all of the products and services that I am indeed passionate about.
"Music brings a warm glow to my vision, thawing mind and muscle from their endless wintering."
Haruki Murakami
Meet Michael Klein
Michael grew up in McKeesport where his father was an entrepreneur and both parents were music lovers. "I could hear Frank Sinatra and Count Basie playing throughout the house all of the time. Music was an integral and important part of my family's life.
"I always wanted to be an entrepreneur, and worked at Wander Sales in McKeesport selling hi fi equipment when I was 15. I loved it! Being around music and the cool gear was really inspiring. Working there off and on through college enabled me to pay my own way though school. I knew being around music and the equipment that delivered it was a passion that I had to follow. In my mid-twenties, I opened my first high end audio shop in Squirrel Hill - The Audio Gallery. I met manufacturers who developed and designed audio products from a very unique perspective; products that made one connect emotionally with music. It changed my approach and it really resonated with the public and my clients. Five years later I sold it and moved to Seattle with my wife Jan. Now married for over 30 years, we have two boys living in Asheville, North Carolina who are both songwriters and musicians.
"It was invigorating to experience a very different vibe from Pittsburgh. Seattle was an exciting time. Pearl Jam and Nirvana were exploding, Microsoft, Nintendo, Nordstrom and Starbucks were all new. I was working with a consumer electronics company, Magnolia Hi Fi and was excited to learn about a new development in my industry, Home Theater. When returning to Pittsburgh, I noticed no one was taking advantage of this new and exciting type of entertainment. So, we decided to move back and I opened Let's Make Music in Shadyside. This was the first retail store in Pittsburgh to showcase both Home Theater and Automation. 20 years later I sold Let's Make Music.
"A friend introduced me to a successful business in Dallas, Audio Concepts. When I visited Audio Concepts I was taken back by the beautiful products and the music they were producing. These were products I had only read about; gorgeous pieces designed to deliver the most incredible lifelike musical sound that I had ever heard. I knew I had to open a business that brought this level of performance and aesthetic to Pittsburgh.
Michael and his staff is what makes them different... their undeniable passion and the perfection they strive for and deliver to one's home. "The combination of absolute performance and aesthetic is what makes us special, and the ability to demonstrate these qualities in our showroom is something one can experience first-hand.”
"Visit our showroom. Everything that is special and the qualities that differentiate us are available in our experience center in Warrendale Village."